The Settings of "The Hundred Secret Senses"

One of the reasons I was impressed by Amy Tan's writing was because she was able to very effectively bring her settings to life. For the settings, she used a lot of details, including everything from background information to cultural artifacts. To give a better idea of how she used these techniques, I'd like to talk about three different settings in the book.

The first setting that comes to mind for me is 19th century China, as Kwan saw it. Just like in any other descriptive writing, Tan illustrates the house and surrounding mountains and village. What really brings it to life, however, is how she describes the historical context and time period. Kwan talks about the history of her village, and how the people in her town are special, different from the people in other villages. She also talks about the missionary movement in China, and the different groups fighting in China at the time. Some more important details she includes are the feelings of the Chinese towards the foreigners and vice versa. These details make the reader feel the tension of the setting and understand the different goals of the different characters.

Another significant setting was Olivia's apartment. What was most interesting about Amy Tan's technique for describing this setting was the use of dialogue. The reader learns more about the setting through the dialogue than through the direct narration. Hearing the real estate agent try to sell the apartment to Olivia and Simon feels very modern, a lot like listening to a car salesman--it's distinctly 20th/21st century. Additionally, the way that Olivia and Simon talk about the storage space, garage space, etc makes it very clear that the setting is modern and urban/suburban.

Finally, Amy Tan very effectively described the visit to modern day China. Throughout Olivia's visit to China, she comes across many cultural differences that make a clear distinction between the setting in the US and China. In China, Olivia comes across a man selling birds for food, appallingly inconsiderate drivers, and a concerning absence of police. These events, as well as the contrast between Olivia's reactions and Kwan's reactions, really bring out the uniqueness of this setting.

Throughout the book, Amy Tan uses several different techniques to bring to life several different settings.